Fraud Alert Warning to Local Businesses

The following Fraud Alert was received from the Scottish Business Resilience Service on Monday 24th Jan 2022.  There are no reports of incidents in the Highlands but businesses are urged to be vigilant.

Warning to local businesses following recent card machine scams 

We are appealing for information and urging businesses to be vigilant following incidents in Edinburgh of frauds via payment card devices.

The fraudsters are reported to have entered retail and hospitality establishments in the city centre and swapped the card machine for their own one. This results in payments for subsequent sales being fraudulently paid into the scammer’s bank account.

There were 2 reported incidents on Thursday, 20 January 2022, in the city centre resulting in a significant sum of money being stolen. These are being treated as linked and enquiries are ongoing.

Sergeant Janie Harman from the Prevention, Intervention and Partnerships Department said: “We are urging retail and hospitality staff to be extra vigilant and ensure that they are in control of the card devices at all times, even when it’s not in use.

“If you think you may have been a victim of this type of fraud, contact your bank immediately, ensure that any CCTV is secured and contact police on 101, or in an emergency always call 999.”

Anyone with information about these incidents who has not already contacted Police Scotland should call 101, quoting reference 1971 of 20 January 2022, or report information anonymously via the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”